Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The RAAFA Stained Glass Window in the First Floor foyer

Cover of the History of 2 OTU

An 8 inch howitzer of the 1st Australian Siege Battery (aka 54th Siege Battery) at full recoil after firing one of its 60 pound shells. One of a series of images taken by Frank Hurley Official War Photographer

3619 Private Edwin Allen

WW1 - A very rare medal set - a Military Cross AND a Military Medal, 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

The Vickers Wellington, the type that formed the mainstay of Bomber COmmand until the arrival of the four engine 'heavies'. Later used as a training platform. http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/blogs/44822/attachments/183979d1321936604-vickers-wellington-458-squadron-1942-1943-wellington_0.jpg

AN RAF Catalina of No. 202 Squadron returns to Gibraltar after a patrol

No. 19 Course at ATS Somers Victoria 27 Aug 1941. Reg Bain circled in red.

NX70915 Lt CAH Moxham, 2nd/2nd machine Gun Battalion

Official caption reads; "The graves of 13 Australian soldiers from the 10th Battalion who, unless stated otherwise, were killed in action on 19 May 1915. From left to right, the graves are those of 1398 Private (Pte) Charles Olsen; 1037 Pte William Cocks, killed in action on 23 May 1915; 894 Pte Albert Henry Davey; 1751 Pte Joseph Gurry; 984 Pte Charles Henry Allen; 1558 Pte Albert Beswick (actually Baswick); 101 Pte Walter Batley Seaman; 801 Private Arthur Sydney Johnson; 1357 Pte Sydney Brooke Holt, killed on 29 May 1915; 299 Pte Thomas Arthur Atwill; 1184 Pte Benjamin Thomas Thorpe; 1163 Pte John George Murphy; 1452 Pte William Altree, killed on 29 May. Post war investigation revealed that Pte Albert Baswick, coach trimmer, enlisted at Oaklands, South Australia and embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Runic on 27 November 1914; Albert Baswick was an alias of John Routledge, son of Thomas and L Caroline Routledge, of 4 Holt Terrace, Shell Street, Stanley Grove, Manchester, England" This group correlates closely with the CO's account of the battle (see Lock p46) plus three other men PTEs Cocks Holt and Altree who died in the days following the major counter attack. The CO's account indated that 11 men were killed. Ten are thus accounted for in this photograph with the eleventh perhaps succumbing to wounds in the evacuation chain. This group is now all interred in the Shrapnel Gully Cemetery. AWM Image http://www.awm.gov.au/view/collection/item/C02199/

NF443427 Private Kathleen MICHAEL

TX11229 Private Roy Absolom

Memorial Panel RSL Memorial Hall Ground Floor

Captain Thomas SHERIDAN's grave at Pheasant Wood cemetery

No. 77 Driver Sidney John PENHALIGON from the Queenslander 12 Jun 1915

4501 Pte Herbert Edward Ballard

The Farina War memorial

Informal group portrait of RAF ground staff with RAAF and Royal New Zealand Air Force air crew of a Mitchell bomber squadron, 180 Squadron RAF with the Second Tactical Air Force. Left to right: two RAF ground crew, Jock (Fitter) and Alf (Rigger); 422248 Flying Officer (FO) Jack B O'Halloran, pilot of Sydney, NSW, (later Flight Lieutenant and DFC); 417379 Pilot Officer James Crosby (Jim) Jennison (later Flying Officer and DFC) of Adelaide, SA; 422175 FO Reg J Hansen of Sydney, NSW; FO Harry M Hawthorn, RNZAF of Hastings, NZ. The aircraft was lettered D and the pilot named it 'Daily Delivery' and the nose art illustration portrays a stork carrying a large bomb. Location RAF Dunsford Surrey UK

A No. 431 Squadron Lancaster B Mk III running up its engines.

William Wilson Smith and family

Troops preparing to board trains outside Mitcham Camp, 1915.

A privately own and flown CAC Wirraway operating in the 1980s before the 'Warbird' vintage military aviation movement got under way in Australia.

Gallipoli Medallion, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

A 214 Squadron B-17 F Flying Fortress and its crew, after the Squadron was re-equipped and re-assigned to 100 Group flying in a bomber support role as airborne electronic warfare aircraft; an extremely hazardous task because the devices they used were 'active' and emitted radio frequency signals that would be located by the enemy.

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, 1915-04-29. THE WHARF AT ALEXANDRIA, SHOWING AMBULANCES WAITING TO TAKE FROM THE STEAMSHIP A.I. IONIAN MEN WOUNDED AT GALLIPOLI 1915-04-25/26 (ANZAC DAY) (DONOR M. HAMILTON)

A No. 431 Squadron Lancaster B Mk III running up its engines.

Military Medal, G.V.R. (3958 Pte. G. H. Trew. 2Aust: Inf:); British War Medal 1914-20 (3958 Pte. G. H. Trew. 2Bn. A.I.F.) ‘3’ officially corrected; War Medal 1939-45 (N65913 G. H. Trew); Australia Service Medal (N65913 G. H. Trew), Second War Medals officially impressed, mounted for display

Nursing SIster Dorothy Elmes, a victim of the Banka Island massacre

WW2 RAAF Aircrew NW Europe Distinguished Flying Cross, 1939-45 Star, Aircrew Europe Star (operations over NW Europe before D Day) , Defence Medal (service in a prescribed area in this case the UK) , British War Medal 1939-45, Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Jim Whalley's Boomerang A46-63 on short finals

Group portrait of instructors and pupils of the 1st flying training course in front of a B.E.2a aircraft in a hangar. Back row: R Williams; T W White. Front row: George Pinnock Merz of Ballarat, Vic; H A Petre; E Harrison; D T Manwell. WIlliams went on to become 'The Father of hte RAAF'. White served in the Middle East and was captured and imprisoned by the Turks for 2 1/2 years before an epic escape. Merz was the first Australian Military aviator killed in action, in Mesopotamia.

Crimerian Cannons

36211 Gunner Ralph French, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade

WW2 pacific medal set - L-R; Pacific Star, British War Medal 1939-45, Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Memorial to Men of Railway Town

1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory medal with the oak leaf clasp denoting Mentioned in Despatches.

ALexander McBride Kerr's Funeral Medal set. flying helmet and Photo

Military Medal, British South African Medal, 1914.15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

William Smith's trench art

Off Sumba Island, Netherlands East Indies. 1945-01-15. The crew of the disabled Catalina aircraft, serial no. A24-96, code RK-E of No. 42 Squadron RAAF in their dinghies preparing to move across to the Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF which came to rescue them. The aircraft had come down near Japanese held territory. On the night of 14 January 1945, during a mission to Surabaya, a plane from No. 42 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Harrigan, experienced trouble with its port engine and immediately began to lose altitude. At the time Flt Lt Harrigan was flying at 300 feet below heavy cloud off Sumba Island. He jettisoned his mines, but the plane continued to lose altitude and he was forced to alight on the open sea. The hull of the Catalina aircraft was damaged and began to leak. However, the water was kept down by baling. Using the radio-telephone, the crew was able to make its position known to returning minelayers. All night they worked on the faulty engine, but without success. However, in the morning, a Catalina aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAAF, captained by Flt Lt Ortlepp, landed in the heavy swell, covered by a Liberator aircraft, and took off Flt Lt Harrigan's crew. Flt Lt Ortlepp then destroyed the disabled Catalina aircraft with machine-gun fire and returned safely to base.

The cover of Arthur Hoyle's biography of Highie Edwards featuring the STella Bown portrait.

The battered hulk of the SMS Emden after it was beached on North Keeling Island

Crimerian Cannons

Lieutenant Esson Rule 50th Bn Australian Infantry Died on 3rd April 1917 aged 22 Son of William and Ida Rule Born at Aberdeen, Burra, New South Wales Grave: A 24

Gilbert Pate's grave in Lezennes Communal Cemetery near Lille - "He fought and died a hero in the battle of the skies".

A de Havilland Mosquito FB1 of No. 464 Squadron RAAF